COUNTY NEWS: DIY first aid advice ahead of bank holiday

Homeowners have been issued advice ahead of the bank holiday weekends. Picture: St John Ambulance

Jennifer Logan

Published:11:36Sunday 09 April 2017

St John Ambulance has issued DIY first aid advice ahead of the bank holiday weekends.

The nation’s leading first aid charity has issued advice to homeowners, as figures have revealed that around 200,000 people are admitted to hospital every year because of DIY accidents, a spokesman said.

Injuries often tend to vary in scope; with 4,000 people admitted to hospital following accidents involving furniture, while a fall on or off a ladder led to almost 7,000 hospital admissions, the spokesman added.

Isobel Kearl, training officer at St John Ambulance, said: “It’s important that everyone learns basic first aid, especially as so many accidents happen at home.

“First aid is such a simple skill but it has an incredible impact. Armed with this knowledge, we can all be the difference between a life lost and a life saved.”

According to research by the charity, tools and machinery have shown to result in the highest number of DIY injuries, accounting for nearly 40 per cent of all DIY-related hospital admissions.

In some cases, knowing first aid and how to treat injuries that could occur from these accidents, including head injuries, fractures and severe bleeding, could potentially save a life, the charity said.

Here is their advice:

Head injuries

All head injuries are potentially serious; they can lead to damage of the brain and cause someone to become unresponsive. The severity of a head injury would depend on how someone injured their head, and how hard the impact of the injury is.

What to look for:

1. Brief loss of responsiveness

2. Wounded scalp

3. Dizziness or nausea

4. Loss of memory of events before or during the injury

5. Headache

6. Confusion

For a severe head injury, you should also look for:

1. Reduced level of response

2. Loss of responsiveness

3. Leakage of blood or watery fluid from the ear or nose

4. Unequal pupil size

What to do:

1. Advise the casualty to sit down and give them a cold compress to hold against the injury. You can use a cold compress, bag of ice or frozen peas wrapped in a towel.

2. Treat any scalp wounds by applying direct pressure to the wound.

3. Check if the casualty’s response levels using the AVPU scale (below).

4. If they’re unresponsive, or not quite right, don’t hesitate - call 999 immediately. Use the AVPU test below to help you decide their level of responsiveness

A- Alert Is the casualty alert? Are their eyes open and are they responding to questions?

V- Voice Do they respond to your voice? Can they answer simple questions and instructions?

P- Pain If they are not alert or responding to your voice, are they responding to pain? Do they move or open their eyes if you pinch their earlobe?

U- Unresponsive Are they unresponsive to any stimulus? Call 999 or 112 for an ambulance and explain their response to the AVPU test. Wait with them until an ambulance arrives, open their airway, and monitor their breathing, pulse, and look for any changes in their level of response. If their breathing becomes noisy or they begin to snore, turn them on their side into the recovery position.

Fractures

A break or crack in a bone is called a fracture. In most cases a broken bone cannot be seen; this is called a closed fracture, but sometimes bits of a broken bone can puncture the skin. This is called an open fracture.

What to look for:

The seven things you may see if someone has a fractured bone are:

1. Swelling and bruising

2. Difficulty moving

3. Movement in an unnatural direction

4. A limb that looks shorter, twisted or bent

5. A grating noise or feeling if the limb is moved

6. Loss of strength

7. Signs of shock

What to do:

1. Support the injured body part and immobilise it with a sling or by tying it to an uninjured part of the body.

2. If it is an open fracture, cover the wound with a sterile dressing and secure it with a bandage. Apply pressure around the wound to control any bleeding.

5. Check for signs of shock, which is often caused by losing blood. Do NOT elevate an injured leg.

6. If they become unresponsive, and their breathing becomes noisy or they begin to snore, turn them on their side into the recovery position.

Severe bleeding

When bleeding is severe, it can be dramatic and distressing. If someone’s bleeding isn’t controlled quickly, they may lose a lot of blood, become unresponsive and/or develop shock; this is not emotional shock, but a life-threatening condition which is often caused by loss of blood.

How to treat severe bleeding:

1. Protect yourself by wearing gloves and remove any clothing around the wound.

2. If there’s nothing in it, apply pressure directly to the wound with a clean non-fluffy cloth or sterile dressing. Apply a firm bandage over the dressing, but don’t cut off their circulation.

3. If there’s something in the wound leave it where it is and apply pressure around it, pushing the edges together to stop the bleeding.

4. Call 999/112 for emergency help.

6. Lie them down and raise their legs to treat shock.

7. Keep checking their breathing and whether they can respond to you.

Be prepared to treat someone who is unresponsive.

9. If they become unresponsive, and their breathing becomes noisy or they begin to snore turn them on their side into the recovery position.

For more information on St John Ambulance, including how to make a donation, volunteering opportunities, and details of training for the public, schools and businesses, visit www.sja.org.uk or call 08700 10 49 50.

Don’t miss out on all the latest breaking news where you live.

Here are four ways you can be sure you’ll be amongst the first to know what’s going on.

1) Make our website your homepage

2) Like our Facebook page

3) Follow us on Twitter

4) Register with us by clicking on ‘sign in’ (top right corner). You can then receive our daily newsletter AND add your point of view to stories that you read here.